The statutory cap for child support will be increasing on September 1, 2013 from $7,500 to $8,550. The cap works as follows. The court applies the percentage guideline to the first $7,500, soon the first $8,550, of a payor’s net income. The percentage applied is based on the number of children the payor has and net income is after tax money as determined by the Attorney General’s office and annually published in a chart in the Texas Family Code.
If a payor’s net income is over the statutory cap, a Court must find that the child’s actual expenses exceed the child support amount determined by the statutory cap to order child support amount in excess of the amount determined by the statutory cap.
While this sounds complicated, the practical effect will be that the minimum child support amount for individuals who make over approximately $120,000 per year will be increasing. To use a one child case, support will increase from $1,500 to $1,710 per month.